Hari
OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
VEDANTA IN ACTION.
This is the title of a publication from CM which,
whilst it of course has items by Gurudev, also includes selections of writing
from other well-esteemed Gurus from the Vedantic tradition as well as leading
businessmen. Its focus is the working life. We shall be exploring these essays
for the next few weeks on Workings-day as, clearly, they pertain directly to
the premise of this section of AVBlog! As ever, you are encouraged to read back over previous
posts, to ensure full benefit.
Part 1; Vedanta in Management.
The Secrets to Profit (Gurudev) cont'd. - an
excerpt from a talk given 4/16/1980 to the AGM of the Bombay Industries Assocn.
Applying
Gita's Principles to Today's World.
This
macro-vision is not new in history. We find it taught even in the ancient Vedic
scriptures. In fact, it is this macro-view which enabled the Indian
civilization to survive the natural declines and again rise up to glory. It is
because of this vision that, despite much calamity, the Indian culture has
remained precious. Many are the cultures elsewhere that have come up, sparkled
for a while, then died away completely. Where is the Greek culture today? The
Roman, the Egyptian, the Macedonian? The countries may remain, but the glorious
cultures they once were are long gone, existing only in libraries and
artifacts.
In
India, the culture has continued because of the macro-view of Hindu philosophy.
However, after four to five hundred years of foreign rule, the culture has been
damaged. Those who were entrusted with carrying forward the teachings and laws,
the Brahmins, failed in their duties to society. Other members of society thus
remained ignorant of their glorious worth. We cannot hold anyone to blame now -
it is a phenomenon which is inevitable in the world of space and time, where
nothing remains permanently. The Hindu scriptures contain great knowledge that
enables civilizations to adapt to those changing times (not just Indian
civilization, note, for the principles are universal.) Those scriptures are not
ignorant of the need for economics and politics. In fact, they have precious
insights regarding both.
Many
industrial and technical men have benefited by reading them. Great thinkers in
the West are studying the scriptures of the East and bringing out new insights,
new politics, new industrial visions and new attitudes in life based upon the
Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, or the Dhammapaada of the Buddhists. These books are becoming more and more
attractive to the Western scholars. Western man is pursuing this study to learn
how to tune up and readjust the mind and thus reduce the stresses and strains
of the modern technological age.
In
India today, most people still practice religion, though at a superficial
level. If you go to any industrial complex in India, large or small, you will
find many pictures of the Lord in His many faces, with an incense stick lit
beside. Those industrialist seem to be deeply devoted; but if you listen to the
prayers offered you will hear, "Lord I am giving you incense, yet you
don't give me anything!" The devotee then sits there before the Lord and
starts 'cutting throats' in the thrust of business. If profits are not good, he
loses his faith. It is all because of misunderstanding what faith in God
is. There is some form of faith.
Externally it is there, but the tuning up of the mind and the spirit of surrender
are absent. God must be made the
proprietor. Too much? Okay, make Him a one-penny partner in your business, with
no voting power. Let Him also sit in at your board meetings. Lord is so clever,
that if you make him a one-penny partner, within six months you will find that
He becomes the managing director!
"Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice; have mercy also upon me and answer me. When thou saidst 'seek ye My face', my heart said unto thee 'Thy face Lord will I seek." (Psalms 27; 7&8)Try it. Surrender your worries to Him - genuinely. You will find that your mental weakness, exhaustion and fatigue reduce and your mind becomes calm and serene. When the mind is thus, your efficiency increases; your performance, attitude towards others, vision of life, coping in challenges… all these change into a new tempo and beauty. With these inner qualities, your activities gather a momentum that cannot but attract success in this material world.
